International Ukraine-EU legal relationship: benefits of legislative approximation and guidelines for domestic decision-making powers under martial law

Abstract

The article focuses on the legal analysis of the basis of future reforms in the context of approximation of Ukrainian legislation to EU standards under conditions of martial law in Ukraine, global uncertainty and the development of the system of international military-political cooperation. The objective of the present study is to examine the moderating effect of international Ukraine-EU legal relationship., as well as to describe the directions of implementation of the provisions of EU regulations into Ukrainian legislation by reviewing and analyzing the legal regulation of Ukraine-EU relations. The study uses Ukraine and EU legislation the period between 2020 and 2022 to test benefits of legislative approximation and guidelines for domestic decision-making powers under martial law. The relationship between the regulations, implemented by EU, and the existing legal system of Ukraine is visible for Ukraine legal system in general, supporting the hypothesised moderating effect of international Ukraine-EU legal relationship under martial law. The article contributes to the development of the study of the issue of approximation of legislation by applying the existing concept of EU law. The relationship between the implemented EU legislation and the existing legal system. This study contributes to extant research by adopting the existing concept of EU law. The need to improve the institutional and legal sphere under the current conditions of the development of modern EU law is substantiated, which also determines the revision of theoretical provisions and the introduction of corrections and novelties in the conceptual system. In the context of martial law in Ukraine, the proposed idea is that the strategic line of cooperation between the EU and Ukraine should be further transformed taking into account the issues of compliance with EU legislation in order to ensure proper border crossing procedures for refugees from Ukraine and persons in need of asylum. The general conclusion of the study is to indicate the potential success factors of the implementation of the EU legislation and the problems of approximation of Ukrainian legislation to the EU legislation. Comparative multilevel analysis, documentary and literature review were performed, other methods were used, including synthesis and deduction. The argument of hypothesis that the difficulty of maintaining peace and stability in the development of the state in the direction of integration into the EU and NATO for Ukraine is determined by following challenges: legal characteristics of an undeclared war as an armed aggression of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, the global pandemic COVID-19 pandemic, corresponding geopolitical changes on the world map followed by migration crisis, hybrid informational and armed challenges, etc. The general theoretical characteristics of the political dialogue on the level of the Ukraine-EU summits for 2020-2022 are outlined. The conclusion is made on the basis of comparative approach to further reform of the Constitution of Ukraine, taking into account the conclusions of working groups within the framework of projects and programs of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU. The article points to a number of problems that hinder the implementation of bilateral agreements and EU strategies, which are problematic today. The value of the analysis lies in the contextual reference to the development programs of the candidate countries for joining the European Union.